Gum chewing? Child's play. Blinking? Easy. Becoming a
millionaire? Piece of cake. In your grandparents'
grandparents' time, it was harder to make a million. The law of
averages says most people worked on a farm. Others laid railroad
track for 10 cents a day, while still others froze in the mountains
because their wagon wheels broke. Some people's ancestors wated
their lives in a saloon as the town drunk or local prostitute.
Whatever they were, in all likelihood, they were not rich. Today,
it's different. The American Dream is finally accessible to
every-one. Being a millionaire has never been easier.

OK, maybe the process isn't as simple as blinking, but it
rivals gum chewing. (You have to go to the store and wait in line
to buy the darn stuff, and then there's all that unwrapping.)
This roving reporter was recently dispatched to talk to a handful
of "millionaire experts" and see what advice they had for
making an easy million or two . . . or 20.

If these suggestions don't work for you, please don't
return this magazine asking for your money back. Hey, I'd like
to be a millionaire someday, too.

Geoff Williams (gwilli2181@aol.com), a frequent
contributor to Business Start-Ups, says he's excited
when he finds a quarter under his sofa cushions.

Start your own business: Steps 1-5

1. Start your own business. Before you glance at the
cover of Business Start-Ups and say "Duh,"
consider the insight of author Robert Kiyosaki, a multimillionaire
who penned Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids
About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not (Techpress,
$15.95, 800-308-3585). Among other books with similar themes, he
states: "The IRS has no interest in your business
failing . . . the tax codes are set up for
entrepreneurs, not their employees. The government rewards those
who risk their own money."

After all, observes Kiyosaki, the government wants your
business to become filthy rich. If your company brings in $500
million a year, the government's tax pot will be a lot sweeter
than if you're bringing in a measley $50,000. So if you've
already started your own business, you're well on your way to
being a millionaire. If you haven't begun your business and are
hesitating, then . . . well, I hear Gap is
hiring.

2. Have a millionaire mind-set. Think goal-setting. If
you want to be a millionaire, you have to decide it's your
destiny. "I'd say one of the key components to becoming a
millionaire is to have a laser-like focus on your goals," says
Brian Koslow, who is a management/marketing consultant and a
personal development coach to doctors and business owners in Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida. He's also the author of 365 Ways to
Become a Millionaire (Without Being Born One) (Penguin/Putnam,
$10.95, 212-366-2000).

"Millionaires are not easily distracted," observed
Koslow when we chatted over the phone a few months ago. "For
instance, if a bomb went off during this interview, I doubt I would
even notice."

Luckily, that didn't happen (either that, or we just
didn't notice). He adds, however, "Having a millionaire
mindset means [you're] always listening--always have your ear
tuned for opportunities. For example, when I buy a company, I
always look at how the company can be rather than what it's
like now."

3. Surround yourself with experts. As attorney Ron Goldie
says: "The sign of a successful entrepreneur is that he or she
is the decision-maker, but I think it's imperative that
entrepreneurs have at least one professional who knows everything
there is to know--one who can give them an independent assessment
of the obstacles ahead.

"Every highly successful person I know of has at least one
person they can turn to who knows the difference between the hype
and the reality of what's actually going on," finishes
Goldie, a senior partner at the Los Angeles law firm of Mitchell,
Silberberg & Knupp. Goldie would think that, of course.
He gets paid to dispense financial legal advice to millionaires and
vividly remembers one colleague who didn't listen to him--and
lost $40 million on a business deal.

Several others interviewed also stressed the importance of
having trusted colleagues to consult. "Hire a team of people
who are smarter than you," stresses Kiyosaki, echoing the
sentiments spoken by almost everyone interviewed here. Kiyosaki
says that team would likely include an ace accountant, an attorney,
brokers and public relations personnel.

Even if you can't initially afford all those people, you
still have options. Bounce your ideas off a trusted friend or
relative--someone who has your best interests at heart. And you can
always offer a bit of ownership in your company to some of your
employees, says Michele McGeoy, a Berkeley, California,
entrepreneur who recently became a millionaire when she sold her
second company for a little over $2 million. Her third and current
company, R.H. Solutions (http://www.rhsolutions.com),
develops database computer software and tools to help organizations
manage business relationships.

"Get people who have the expertise--and give them a piece
of the pie," says McGeoy. "There's ownership at
stake: The bigger the pie [grows], the bigger each piece
[gets]." It's a good deal for you and your key
employees: After all, if you want to hire smart people, remember
that smart people won't work for beans.

If your company is so strapped that a piece of your pie
doesn't look appetizing to brilliant experts, solicit free
advice from people you admire, suggests Larry Waschka, who wrote
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Rich (Alpha Books,
$18.95, 800-428-5331). "Find the people who are the best at
what they do, call them, compliment them, and ask if you can pick
their brain. Obviously, if they're the competition, that may
not work. But if you compliment an expert and marvel at what they
do, nine times out of 10, they'll invite you over."

Sure, we've all heard this sugary-sweet-saccharine pep talk
before, and it seems awfully predictable at first: Oooh! Look,
Ma, I feel good about myself. Presto. I'm a millionaire!
But Koslow lays out an example of how feeling good can lead you to
the good life: "[Self-confidence is] going to be reflected in
the fees you're charging. For instance, if you're a
consultant, it might be the difference between charging $75 an hour
and asking the client to pay $200 or $300. Often, the only
difference between the services is that the one who charges the
higher fee has an enormous amount of self-esteem." And feeling
like a loser can cause you to lose money in other ways, asserts
Koslow. "If you don't believe in yourself, the person on
the other side of the table will notice." Question yourself,
and watch your million-dollar deals disappear faster than a David
Copperfield trick.

5. Bargain-hunt. Yes, even millionaires save money. How
do you think they got to be millionaires in the first place? As
Rusty White says, "There are two steps to making money: First,
you generate it, and more importantly, [inexpensively] buy the
product that you're reselling, so you've got a large margin
of profit." White would probably know what he's talking
about. He's more than the founder and former publisher of
The Robb Report; he's the publisher of
Millionaire magazine, both being publications for the rich
and affluent, which White is. Located in Hilton Head, South
Carolina, he's worth $40 million. So while you're figuring
out how to get White to adopt you, consider saving money wherever
you can--and spending it wisely. Which brings us to Step 6.

Steps 6-10

6. Be a judicious risk-taker. This doesn't mean
taking stupid chances, just daring ones, with potentially
incredible outcomes. For example, several decades ago, before he
started publishing The Robb Report, White was a college
student with some extra money. Instead of investing it in stocks or
having a beer bash, White, a Rolls-Royce enthusiast, bought two
"junkers." He cleaned them up, sold them and bought more
Rolls--and sold those. At one point, he traded his house for a
Rolls "because the car was worth more than the house. And then
I drove off into the sunset, without a place to sleep."

Although White took risks (he didn't know if he could sell
his junkers, but he had ideas of how he would), he always had a
plan. "You never fire a gun without a target," says
White. And while we don't suggest you'll necessarily have
the resources to do exactly what White did, there's still a
lesson here: "Spend time on your plan. You have to make sure
that plan is going to work."

7. Stay on the cutting edge of technology. This advice
comes from Waschka, who is thinking beyond having a talking,
singing and dancing Web page. He's referring to using
technology to replace an extra employee, or simply to appear to the
public like you know what you're doing.

White agrees, going a little further: "Don't only stay
on it--but a step ahead of it." Most of you already know where
he's coming from, but for the slow ones out there, we'll
let White give an example. "So many high-tech, high-speed
things are happening internationally, to me, the cutting edge is to
be able to market in a split second to China or Japan or any place
in the world," says White. "We're working on our site
so it can be read in 47 different languages. And, of course, when
you're selling something, you really don't care where the
money's coming from. The truth is, we're probably expanding
more rapidly overseas than we are in this country."

But McGeoy, ever the pragmatist, has a warning: "Be on the
leading edge--not the bleeding edge." Cute, but what does it
mean? "Sometimes, people are pushing so hard to become the
latest and greatest, [the push] becomes more important than
focusing on your core. There are hundreds and hundreds of failures
to every success. How do you know that the leading edge you're
attaching yourself to will succeed?"

Staying with the times is important, McGeoy agrees, "but
you need to think carefully, ask yourself, `What is this tool,
really, and how is this helping my business to get
better?' "

8. Become a brand name. This suggestion comes from Jason
Hartman, a 34-year-old millionaire from Southern California who has
conveniently written Become the Brand of Choice: How to Earn
Millions Through Relationship Marketing (Lifestyles Press,
$16.95, http://www.brandofchoice.com).

"When you're a brand, it enables business to chase you,
instead of you always having to chase after business," says
Hartman. Keep in mind, becoming a brand name doesn't mean you
have to have a company on the scale or popularity of a Pizza Hut or
Home Depot.

Hartman, for instance, isn't known at all in Peoria or
Pakistan, but homeowners in Orange County are likely familiar with
the real estate tycoon. That's because Hartman built what he
calls a "perceived relationship." In other words,
customers like him and feel comfortable with him, like they know
and understand him.

You, too, can build a perceived relationship. Offer to write
business-related articles for your local paper, suggests Hartman,
who himself appears in real estate columns in the Orange County
Business Journal. Talk about your business with local Kiwanis,
Jaycees, Lions and other service-oriented clubs. Give the public
free seminars that relate to your business. That'll help you
get your name out there. Try all that--or change your last name to
Burger King and hope for the best.

9. Be passionate in what you do. "Since there's
so much competition out there, you've got to set yourself up to
be excellent at what you do. It's almost impossible to be
excellent if you're not passionate about it," says
Waschka. "Otherwise, you'll just get your butt kicked.
There's always going to be somebody out there who's going
to be passionate about what they do. Passion creates a level of
tenacity, a stick-to-itiveness . . . it's
almost like a magical force."

But there's another type of useful passion: hatred--that is,
getting so frustrated with a certain kind of situation that you
must solve the problem. Kiyosaki explores this concept in
his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. For instance, you love your
travel agency but hate how airports treat travelers. How can you
change that?

10. Never give up. In case you don't get it, look to
Ron Goldie. "Whether they know it or not, my clients, who are
worth between $10 million and $1 billion each, follow Winston
Churchill's advice: "Never give up, never give up, never
give up." All my clients have, at one time or another, been
separated from a major portion of their wealth, but they all
had the tenacity and sheer strength of entrepreneurial will to make
more at the end of the game than what they went in with."